Revealed: peer's offer to get meetings with ministers for potential property client

Richard Dannatt told undercover reporters he could make introductions, despite House of Lords ban on lobbying

- Henry Dyer Rob Evans

A member of the House of Lords offered to secure meetings with ministers for a potential commercial client who wanted to lobby the government, the Guardian can reveal.

Richard Dannatt, a former head of the British army, was secretly filmed telling undercover reporters he could make introductions within the government and that he would "make a point of getting to know" the best-placed minister, despite rules prohibiting peers from lobbying.

He added he could easily "rub shoulders" with the right people in the Lords if he needed to approach a minister in order to promote the potential client.

Lord Dannatt also said he had previously introduced a company, in which he was given a shareholding, to a minister and civil servants.

At the beginning and end of the meeting with the reporters, the cross-bench peer said he was "very wary and nervous" because he had been the target of an undercover sting by the press more than a decade ago.

He said he did not want a repeat of an "extraordinarily embarrassing" episode. Dannatt was cleared of any wrongdoing on the previous occasion.

Experts feel Dannatt's comments in the latest secret recording represent a "clear breach" of the rules that prevent peers from lobbying.

These rules ban members of the Lords from contacting ministers, officials, MPs or other peers on behalf of paying clients. This means, for example, that they cannot connect or introduce those clients to members of the government.

Dannatt, 74, said he did not agree that his conduct had broken Lords rules and added: "I am well aware of... the Lords code of conduct... I have always acted on my personal honour."

Conflict of interest?

The findings follow revelations about the involvement of Lord Evans of Watford, a Labour peer, in what appears to amount to a cash-for-access venture.